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“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them”

I was spontaneously reminded of the aforementioned adage while I caught hold of a few episodes of the latest fiery offering of the circus called the Indian television industry – Sach ka Saamna. A lot has been spoken, affirmed, criticized, printed, dictated and heard about the show all across the information channel. After music, dance, creativity, brawn, morality, virginity, peace and hatred, its time to sell truth under the pretext of being audacious.

The Indian television industry has been “inspired” by its western sibling intermittently in the past, and this stint is no different. A show that proclaims to impose honesty on its participants by virtue of the questions that are thrown at them like barbs, is enough flesh to chew upon by the audience, who are annoyingly tired of the drama unfolding in some great “Khandaan” whose “parampara” has been tarnished by the sole harbinger of the family hierarchy, or the story of a poor girl who is not accepted as the ‘Bahu’ in a wealthy household, or of catty rivalries between women tarred with quintals of make up and kilos of jewellery – in short the obnoxious K-serials.

We have all the reasons to be addicted to this reality show. We have been conditioned that way by the predecessors of Sach ka Saamna. I clearly remember how the only one topic with which the discussions would start and end in the office, in the bus, on the telephone would be the contestants, their emotional atyachaar and sometimes their singing prowess when Indian Idol was launched. The focus soon changed to Rakhi Sawant’s extreme machining in the Big Boss, another flimsy rip-off of a show which has been a rage in the west. And how can we forget the time when Shekhar Suman tried to do a Larry King Live on some god forbidden show in which he would purposefully rip apart the participants with slick questions. We have been exposed to such a great deal of fraudulent offerings, that we tend to believe in the reality that the television offers much more than the reality that it erases around us and the massacre it creates around us.

“Moment of truth” has been one show that has been making waves all across the west and it didn’t come as a surprise, that its Indian twin was conceived. Although, the original show is known for questions that are bold and that compel the participant to be honest, the desi version is just jaw dropping, eye ball rolling and stomach churning. A person is probed with questions that bring his/her straying and betraying self open in public. Questions that make the participants sweat like pigs and the viewers cringe and squirm in sadistic satiation and well, the producers to be green with Gandhiji. I am not talking about societal morality here. There is nothing in this show that we Indians have not heard of. We all have a dark side of our personality, of course with different hues of darkness. We have seen husbands cheating on their wives, children of troubled marriages taking wrong turns in their lives and siblings ready to bury each other in the graveyard for the legacy of their deceased father. And that’s the very reason, why we tend to be fascinated, entertained and pleasured by someone’s admissions of guilt, misery and deceit. The question is do we really need to be exploited by the idiot box in this spectacular way?

The bigger disappointment and indignation is caused to know that the dodos called parliamentarians in our country have the cheek to argue that Sach Ka Saamna is adding profanity to the Indian way of life. These insolent mispronounced leaders should be enlightened with the fact that they are not the leaders of a developed country in which there is such a dearth of issues to tackle that a debate on a sensational TV show should seize the operation of the parliament. Do we really need a bunch of jokers clad in veils of shamelessness and indifference to decide what is good for us and what is not? Can a show being aired at 10:30 in the night cause a bigger blemish on the Indian culture and values than when these vultures throw microphones and chairs on each other in the House? Is it really that tough to change the channel or lock a reality show which we don’t want to watch or which we don’t want our young ones to watch?

If it is only truth that is creating all this sensation then why not bring a footpath dweller on the show and know about his/her dark secrets. Nah! That wont be as juicy a stuff to know as compared to Urvashi Dholakia getting pregnant as a minor. In spite of the fact that as kids we all listen to stories about truthfulness and honesty, do we really need a television show and an incentive of a few lakh bucks to speak the truth? That’s the naked truth – face off!

8 Responses to “Truth-Face off!”

Well, I will not see it that way. See, like you said, it is not really difficult to change channels, or chose what you want or not want to see. Indian television has seen worse than this. Ultimately each one has his own different reasons to watch television, and it is not always to appeal to the finer tastes. For some it is to escape from their own reality by delving into the manufactured reality of television.

Thanks a lot for visiting my blog Borna. I am really glad to know your thoughts.
There is just no way that i can dispute the fact that different people have different perspectives and reasons to watch television. As you said it right, the “manufactured” reality might just soothe so many tired eyes, tensed minds and troubled souls.
I am just surprised at the way our mind thinks about inflictions of others.
Thanks once again for that wonderful comment.Cheers! 🙂

I am not a big fan of reality shows and I agree with you that we don’t (rather shouldn’t) need an incentive of lakhs of rupees to speak the truth. Stuff like cheating on partners has always happened and always will happen. But, the sad reality is that people are not ready to admit their infidelities, forget about in front a large audience, but even within the security of the four walls of their houses. We have politicians going on air saying, “I will never tell my wife about the affairs that I had before marriage ‘cos there is no need to tell her… galti se jo kiya hai uske bare mein baat karne ki koi zaroorat nahi hai.” If you have done it “galti se”, then your wife would be willing to forgive you. It is not that such men are afraid of not being forgiven by their wives, they just don’t feel the need to be honest with their wives/girl-friends. These are men who wouldn’t speak the truth unless they are shown a million Gandhijis smiling in front of their eyes. I think, reality shows do their bit in bringing such men to the limelight, so to say. The shows display in front of you the hard realities that we chose to ignore so blissfully. Rakhi ka Swayamwar definitely did its part in exposing the prototypic Indian man! (ref. Borna’s blog)

I will not deny that there are a lot of downsides to the show as well. For instance, a woman who comes out clean on a show like sacch ka saamna will probably never be able to lead a normal life in our society, while a man will continue to walk with his head held high as he totally believes that his “acts” were endorsed since time immemorial and he has nothing to feel ashamed of. (I am making a generalization here, but one has got to agree that I am not stretching it far!)

Coming to the last part, yes, I agree with you that a reality show with a footpath dweller revealing his dark secrets wouldn’t sell at all. Sad reality, unfortunately. I guess the kind of reality show that we really need is one where a footpath dweller reveals his mundane thoughts and struggles and hopes and dreams, which would definitely be a revelation of dark secrets to the ever-ignorant lot.

WHOA! 🙂
Thanks a zillion for that rocker of a comment Ags. Many strands to a single thread as you perceive it right. it is worth debating that what will really happen to men/women who come out of the show revealing all their dark/darker/darkest sides.
//If you have done it “galti se”, then your wife would be willing to forgive you//–I am not too convinced whether this generalization is valid or not. But, there is no disputing the fact that truthfulness is paramount.
//Rakhi ka Swayamwar definitely did its part in exposing the prototypic Indian man//–I agree with you on this and more so after supplementing it with Borna’s blog.
It is definitely a concern to see how does the television industry fabricate every human emotion to a money making concoction. what sells is sold and what is secret is told. i guess, this post is just an outburst of this realization..
Thanks a bunch Ags for those words.
Cheers!

//If you have done it “galti se”, then your wife would be willing to forgive you// —> Well, yes.. I will take that back.. 😀
Even the definitions of “galti se” are not very clear to me…

Anyways, it is intriguing to see if the man who thinks that having relationships “galti se” before marriage is not a big deal would feel the same way if he discovered that his wife had relationships “galti se” before marriage… I guess that would merit a whole new post altogether.. 🙂